Swifty gas station closings mean end of an era

Don't Waste Your Money

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Remember when a service station meant you got .... service?

In a Texaco commercial from 1975, a smiling attendant says "Good morning, may I help you," then promptly starts wiping a woman's car windows and lifting her hood to check the oil.

But those days are just about over, as an era comes to an end in the Cincinnati area.

Swifty Gas stations, the family owned chain that still pumps the gasoline like it's 1965, is shutting down, according to employees at the remaining stores.

Workers at the Norwood and Fairfield Swifty stations tell WCPO they've learned that in the next few weeks their stations will be closing, just like the Florence, Kentucky Swifty, which shut down at the end of 2013.

Customers Stunned, Unhappy

Customer Leslie Mays said "we were pretty shocked actually, because it was opened one day and the next day they were gone."

At the Florence Speedy Queen laundromat, next door to the now closed Swifty, former customers are mourning its loss.

Pamela Brown, who was folding her laundry, misses the fact that you didn't have to get out of your car during bad weather.

"Oh yes I really miss that, yes I really do," she said. "Theres actually no one else around here that does that."

But you can't even pump your own gas even if you wanted to, at recently-closed Swifty stations. The hoses are gone. All we found left was one unsold wiper blade.

Oil Company Slowly Shutting Stations

Seymour, Indiana-based Swifty Oil is not commenting publicly.

But Indiana media outlets report the family owned firm's president passed away a year ago and the company has been closing stations ever since. It shut 5 Louisville-area stations at the end of December.

Most gas stations will pump the gas if you are elderly or disabled, but you have to push a button on the pump, and it can sometimes take 10 minutes to get someone to help.

You can still get full service laundry at the Speedy Queen laundromat: they even fold it for you. But the days of attendants pumping your gas may soon be a memory, like that vintage Texaco commercial of years gone by.

As always, don't waste your money.

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